Small waste disposal devices are common in hospitals, doctors' offices and other locations where waste is generated and must be disposed of in a sanitary manner. Further, if the waste emits odors, the waste disposal device should also contain odors emanating from the waste.
Numerous waste disposal devices exist including those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,612,099, 6,804,930, 6,851,251, 7,114,314, 7,146,785, 7,316,100, 7,434,377, 7,503,152, 7,503,159, 7,617,659, 7,708,188 and 7,712,285, all of which are incorporated by reference herein. Additionally, innovative waste disposal devices are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/637,252 filed Dec. 14, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,963,414, also incorporated by reference herein. In addition, waste disposal devices are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12/172,715 filed Jul. 14, 2008, 12/172,758 filed Jul. 14, 2008, 12/172,793 filed Jul. 14, 2008, 13/161,764 filed Jun. 16, 2011, 13/172,976 filed Jun. 30, 2011, 13/173,001 filed Jun. 30, 2011, and 13/270,697 filed Oct. 11, 2011, all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Some of these waste disposal devices include a lid which is coupled to a rotation mechanism whereby upon forced manual closure of the lid, the rotation mechanism converts the manually-initiated closing movement of the lid into rotation of a twisting mechanism which engages with a length of tubing or a plastic bag in the waste disposal device to thereby cause formation of a twist in the tubing or bag. The twist is situated above the waste products in the tubing or bag so that emanation of odors from the waste products in the container is reduced. Such waste disposal devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,612,099, 6,804,930, 6,851,251, 7,114,314, 7,146,785, 7,316,100, 7,434,377, 7,503,152, 7,503,159, 7,617,659, 7,708,188 and 7,712,285, all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
A drawback of such waste disposal devices is that closure of the lid is manually initiated so that the person throwing out the waste product must also come into contact with the lid to urge the lid to close. This contact may be difficult if the person is holding other objects and may also lead to transmission of bacteria from the lid to the person.
It has now been found by the inventor herein, and not believed to have been previously appreciated, that it would be desirable to selectively couple the opening of the lid with untwisting or unknotting of the bag or tubing to better facilitate insertion of waste, without permanently altering the control of the rotation mechanism to provide for this ability, i.e., maintaining the ability of the opening of the lid to avoid untwisting of the bag or tubing. This thereby enables a user to have the ability to either untwist or not untwist the bag or tubing upon opening the lid.
Furthermore, it would also be desirable to provide a waste disposal device which does not require a person throwing out waste products to manually handle the lid in order to close the lid.